The Church at Corinth was far from the ideal model of a first-century apostolic church. It had been planted in one of the most difficult and challenging cities in the Roman World. (The Greek word korinthiazomai) (literally, "to act the Corinthian") in fact came to mean "to commit fornication.") it was to this burgeoning young church, with all of its potential and all of its problems, that Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians.

The fundamental question Paul confronted wherever he carried the gospel was this: "How can those who have been called to belong to Christ be faithful to their new Lord while they must still belong, in so many ways, to this present age? What church of any age has not struggled with this question?

The challenges facing the new community of believers in Corinth are not unlike the challenges facing the twenty-first century church, . The issues of church unity, sexual immorality, marriage, divorce, litigiousness, modesty, authority, spiritual gifts, and hope are issues every church deals with while confronting the day-to-day problems of modern-day Christians who still struggle to live clean in Corinth. As the great apostle speaks to them regarding matters of Christian faith, life, and ministry, so he speaks clearly and loudly to us with them. Thus he would challenge our generation to be "steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord" (15:18